Events

Kansas City’s story doesn’t begin with fur traders and settlers. Rather it goes back millions of years to an era of rising and falling seas, thick green forests of towering ferns, and huge, now-extinct animals. That world, as revealed by the rocks beneath our feet, is explored in the exhibit KC|BC.

KC|BC complements Kansas City Millions of Years Ago – Reading the Rocks, a current show of digital illustrations and actual fossils at the Box Gallery in Suite 211 of the Commerce Bank Building, 1000 Walnut St.

In the pre-digital era before cell phones, satellites, and the Internet allowed travelers to instantly transmit their photos and comments to family and friends, Americans relied on “snail mail” and the picture postcard.

This exhibit gathers more than 200 examples of Kansas City postcards from the ‘30s and ‘40s. The cards – featuring images of landmarks, hotels, parks, and public buildings - have been drawn from the Mrs. Sam Ray Postcard Collection in the holdings of the Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections.

Established in 1874, the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department has for 138 years protected our citizens while keeping abreast of changes in criminology, transportation, technology, and society. This long and colorful history is examined in a new exhibit, Kansas City’s Finest.

The newest exhibition of the Orval Hixon Gallery, New Compositions: The Dance Portraiture of Orval Hixon, is on display from June 11, 2011 through 2013 at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. The exhibit features a rich selection of Hixon’s portraits, including images of some of the best-known dancers of his time.

We provide stories and activities for children 12-24 months of age.

We provide stories and activities for children newborn to 18 months of age.

Children ages 2-5 will enjoy stories, songs, and crafts.

We provide stories and activities for children newborn to 18 months of age.

Learn basic conversation, pronunciation, and grammar for daily use and workplace. Meet friends from many countries and have a great time! Classes are free. Please call 816-701-3488 for more information.

Bring a friend, listen to a few stories, make a craft and enjoy a snack.

Traveling has undergone some big changes in recent years. Now travel journalist Rudy Maxa provides tips to save money, maximize pleasure, and minimize hassles. He offers suggestions about where you should go right now, how to save money on hotels, why you should stop hoarding those frequent flyer miles, and why you should never ride a camel named Katherine in Khiva, Uzbekistan.

For her book The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism, Theda Skocpol conducted grassroots interviews and visited local Tea Party gatherings throughout America. She discusses the past and future of the Tea Party movement and examines its dominant belief that benefits like Social Security and Medicare should be reserved for “real Americans” who have paid their dues by working and paying taxes.

Skocpol is Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University.

Presented as this year’s Park University Hauptman Lecture.